Deals made with the Devil
by wickedlfairy17
Summary: The Dark One has the ability to grant the deepest wish or darkest desire, but all magic comes with a price. Harry has a wish, freedom from his relatives, a dark desire for something beyond his ordinary life but is he willing to pay the price? Trade one master for another? Rumplestiltskin is always willing to strike a deal, but is Harry ready to make one? Once Upon A TimexHp
1. The Price of Freedom

A.N.: So this is a cross over between HP and Once upon a time, I saw it done once and well…I couldn't resist.

**Chapter One: The Price of Freedom **

The book was heavy, big, and smelled like an old book. Harry stared at it for a long time, afraid to touch it and too intrigued not to think about touching it. Its front had pretty fancily embossed words on the front, _**Once upon a time**_… Harry knew those words meant that this was a storybook. That made it even more tempting, because Harry wasn't allowed storybooks in case he got any _'funny ideas'_ and he really wanted one. This book had been forgotten about, Harry was sure, because otherwise Aunt Petunia would have thrown it out a long time ago.

He had found it under some loose floorboards in the attic; it made him wonder how long it had been there hidden in that secret place just waiting for someone to read it. Harry's hand fluttered over it nervously before he slowly opened it and began to read. The stories inside it were like nothing he had ever read before; the stories seemed real somehow and almost close enough to touch. There was real pain here; real joys, real heartache and Harry began to wonder about everything he had ever been told.

The 'villains' in this book didn't seem evil to him, they seemed just as hurt…just as heartbroken as the supposed heroes were and they were worse for it since they never got their happy ending. Harry was most fascinated with Rumplestiltskin, the father, the dark one, the heartbroken master, the dealmaker, the trickster, the one who always kept his word and the one who granted wishes. He doesn't understand how the people he made deals with could be mad at the price he asks them to pay for their wishes.

Nothing ever is free…it was their choice to accept the terms of the deal and Harry doesn't understand how they could be angry at Rumplestiltskin for wanting his fair due. Harry thinks about this really hard, his story is not too distant from Cinderella's, but he isn't a girl so he couldn't give him a baby. The thought was sudden…if Rumplestiltskin was real…if he could free him from his relatives and give him a place to really belong…what would be his price.

What did Harry have to give him? Harry then thinks about the strange things that seemed to happen around him…the sweater the shrunk as his aunt tried to put it on him. The teacher's hair that turned blue, the hair that had grown back and the strange wind that must have put him on the roof of the school. If he called Rumplestiltskin, then magic was real if he appeared. If magic was real…then Harry thought he might have some of that and if he did he could offer a trade.

It had to be something he didn't want to give, Harry thought as he touched the smooth picture of Rumplestiltskin's grinning face. Rumplestiltskin always asked for something like that. He thought about being a servant forever, he had never wanted that to happen to him because that would condemn him to a life forever under the Dursley's thumb. But…if Rumplestiltskin could teach him magic…if he could serve him while getting enough to eat and not having to be afraid of being hurt anymore. That might be enough.

So very quietly Harry packed his backpack that night with the book, his blanket and his small broken toys that he had managed to get. He walked slowly to the park, hoping that by being further away from something as normal as private drive would encourage Rumplestiltskin to come. He sat on a swing, closed his eyes really tight and tried to pull at that thing inside of him that stirred whenever something unexplainable happened. Then, with barely a whisper he said, "_Rumplestiltskin…Rumplestiltskin…"_ over and over hoping that the Dark one would come.

There wasn't a sound, just the quiet of the night and then, "Yes dearie," and Harry fell off his swing in surprise. There before him was Rumplestiltskin, all smiles, moving as if he was dancing to his own music and the feel of his magic hung heavy between them. "Now dearie you've called me a very long way, what is it you want?" He asked gleefully as he crouched before him long fingers clasped on his knees. Harry shook himself out of his shock and sat up slowly. "I want you to take me away from this…make sure no one hurts me anymore and…and…I get enough to eat….In return…" Harry gulped and steeled his nerves, "In return I'll be your apprentice, your servant, whatever you need me to be…I'll give you whatever is mine to give!"

Rumplestiltskin looked at him strangely, twitching his head this way and that, "How old are you dearie?" he asked sounding…almost…kind. Harry has had such little kindness that he smiles despite himself, "I'm five sir, I'll be six in July." Rumplestiltskin seemed surprised by something…different…he was hesitating and from the book Harry knows that is not normal…it makes him nervous that he'll say no.

"My deal's cannot be broken dearie. Not after they're struck…are you sure?" Rumplestiltskin sticks his hand out and Harry looks at it. Then he thinks about the Dursleys, about the hunger, about the loneliness, about the pain, and he thinks that if he has Rumplestiltskin's word than he would never have to worry about that again. "As long as I have your word, then I'll be whatever you need me to be forever…I don't want to be here anymore," Harry finishes quietly. "Then you have a deal dearie," Rumplestiltskin smiles maliciously as Harry shakes his hand. He feels a ticklish sensation and they are somewhere else…Harry smiles. It was the start of a new life for him, new yet similar and he was glad for it.

-x-

Harry hummed a bit as he banished the dust from the room and set about straightening up the place. It had been five years since the deal had been struck, five years and still sometimes it felt as if it was just yesterday. He touched the pouch at his side where he kept 'the book' and set out to the kitchens to make some tea for his master. It hadn't taken him long to realize that he had come into Rumplestiltskin's story early, and that the events of the book hadn't yet happened.

It had took him a while to decide to keep the book secret, even from Rumplestiltskin because he hadn't been sure he could even keep secrets from his Master. It turned out he could, because while he wasn't quite as powerful as Rumplestiltskin in magic he had come to find out that he was pretty powerful. Powerful enough that his secrets were his own and Harry planned to use that to his advantage. He giggled a bit, the sound was eerily similar to his Master's own malicious giggle but Harry didn't mind.

After all, his Master was his teacher, his mentor, and he was the one that raised him. His Master provided everything he could ever need and Harry was planning on replaying that as much as he was able. Not that his Master knew that, or of his plans to repay him. It had been hard at first, since his Master had been pained to be in his presence that reminded him of his lost son. Rumplestiltskin had fixed his eyes, given him new clothes, given him food and potions to fix what the Dursleys had done. But outside of lessons, chores, and errands Rumplestiltskin hadn't wanted to be anywhere near him.

That had been hard to break him out of, it had taken a year before he had even let him have tea with him, but it had all been worth it. Slowly Rumplestiltskin had begun to entrust him with pieces of his plans, hints at what he could do to help him and even let him go on his deals if he used his magic to remain hidden. Progress was slow, but soon Rumplestiltskin picked up on the fact that he would know things before he did. That when he gave advice Rumplestiltskin should listen and Harry hoped it would be enough the deal with Belle was coming up soon…he could feel it.

Harry wanted to be prepared, because he wanted to tweak the deal his Master would propose just a little bit. It would benefit Rumplestiltskin more, and Harry wanted nothing more than that. So as he eased the tea tray onto his Master's workbench, catching the new Magic Book his Master threw at him a moment later. "Master," Harry began as he fiddled with the book. Rumplestiltskin hummed, dancing about as he worked to complete his latest potion, "Yes dearie," Rumplestiltskin replied as he shot him a narrowed eye glance.

"Master I was looking ahead on some things," Harry began nervously as his Master turned to stare at him sharply his expression carefully blank. His Master twirled his hand in an obvious, 'go on', gesture. "I saw that you will be making a deal with a man named Maurice soon…you'll ask for his daughter because that is the one thing he doesn't wish to give," Harry shifted a bit dancing from side to side, "Ask for her hand, it will be more beneficial."

Harry doesn't say any more as his Master raises an eyebrow and Harry hopes he is not too offended. After Harry had displayed his uncanny ability to know things Rumplestiltskin had given him Tarot cards to encourage his 'talent'. Harry was pleasantly surprised to see he actually had some skill with it, something that his Dark Master hadn't been too skilled at himself. It had taken him five long years to get Rumplestiltskin to trust him enough to take his advice and Harry hoped the time hadn't been wasted.

His Master's face was carefully blank as he twirled his hands and danced from foot to foot. "I have no need of an unwilling wife," His Master began but Harry knew enough now about him to hear his question. "His daughter, Belle, she will agree to do so willingly even though that is the least thing she wants to give. She is…unique…Belle…you will see the benefits of having her as your wife later," Harry hinted hoping his Master would take the bait. "We'll see dearie…we shall see," Rumplestiltskin says before he turns around with flourish and waves his hand impatiently behind him to dismiss him.

However, Harry had seen the curiosity in his Master's eyes…he will go to see Belle early and he will have the price he advised on his mind. He hopes it will be enough to sway Rumplestiltskin into asking for Belle's hand in marriage. Harry knows Belle doesn't love his Master yet, that she will be frightened of the price she will have to pay for her village but she will agree. Harry is sure of that, and he hopes that in doing so he will give his Master some happiness. Harry loves Rumplestiltskin…he is the closest Harry had ever gotten to having a father and Harry is ready to do what he must to see his Master happy. He would work on Belle when she arrived too, work on softening her to his Master and dissuading her from thoughts on escaping.

-x-

Belle was nervous, the Ogres were getting closer every day and soon her home would fall to their terrible might. Her father was doing everything he could, and was even in talks with his advisors about asking _that man_ for his help. _Rumplestiltskin_, every one knew his name and had heard the stories surrounding him. They said he wasn't a man, that he was a monster, a dealmaker and a trickster. If her father was thinking of asking for help from such a man then things were worse than he had ever suspected. Belle _hated _that she could do nothing to help her people, to help her father, and she would do anything if she could just help them.

"Hello dearie," The voice was high pitched and sounded strange, it startled her badly since she thought she had been alone in her bedchambers. She recognized him, though she had never lain eyes on him before in her life, it was the as the stories had said…but maybe not entirely. He was looking at her curiously, studying her; Belle couldn't take the silence that stretches out between them so she says, "Good evening sir." She curtseys a bit, trying not to show how afraid she is that he is here in her room.

"Sir." He did a little twirl and bared his teeth in a gleeful grin, "I should make everyone call me that!" His voice was high pitched and he put odd tones to certain words, Belle thought he was as menacing as he was silly. "What are you doing here sir? Has my father called for you?" Belle asked nervous. He hummed and tilted his head every which way as he studied her as he could see everything about her. It made her feel exposed even though she was stilled dressed and hadn't yet changed for bed.

He giggled and pointed his finger up while tilting his head from side to side saying, "Wrong question! The true question is…what is it _you_ want?" He danced around her and Belle thought that maybe he just couldn't keep still, "What is it I want?" Belle whispered. He giggled again and said, "Yes, you obviously want something otherwise I wouldn't be here!" Belle fiddled with her dress distracting herself is the pretty gold color and the black beaded designs on the collar as she tried to think about what could have summoned Rumplestiltskin to her.

"My family, my friends, my home," she finally whispered, "can you protect them? They will be safe." He giggled and fluttered his fingers, "It is within my powers to do so." He twirled his hand in her direction as if expecting something and she didn't disappoint. "What is your price? Anything that is within my power to give you is your…name it." Belle said as she stared at him determinately. He was watching her again with those dark eyes, "Anything is a very dangerous thing to give," his voice was dangerous now. But Belle refused to back down, "Name it."

"Then my price is _you_." He giggled and danced around her. "I shall go," Belle, said resolved. "Its forever dearie," Rumplestiltskin said hands clasped as he stared her down. "They will all be safe?" Belle stared him down searching his face. "You have my word," he replied his voice had gone surprisingly deep. "Then you have mine," Belle said resigning herself to her fate, "I will go with you, forever." No one decided her fate but herself and this is what she chose. To save everyone, to save her home, she would give herself to this powerful man and do her duty as her mother had taught her to.

He giggled his voice was filled with gleeful satisfaction and his voice pitched higher as he said, "DEAL!" Belle nodded, "Can I inform my father?" Belle asked unsure. "Do as you wish dearie, you have two days, then I will come collect you!" He giggled a bit and then he was gone just as suddenly as he had appeared. The next two days for her seemed to have gone in the blink of an eye and she awaited Rumplestiltskin in the great hall. Her father, a few guards, and her former fiancée Gaston surrounded her hoping that they could change her mind.

They bared the door, but he appeared on her father's chair as if he had been there all along. Her father was panicked, he grabbed her shoulders and said, "You cannot go with this…beast…Belle! You cannot!" She looked at her father, studied his face to engrave into her memory, "It has already been decided father." His presence was behind her then, his hand at her waist, his voice dangerously low, "She is right you know the deal is struck." He pinched his fingers as if to seal it in front of her father's eyes.

He giggled as he twirled her around to face him and held out a simple gold band out to her. Belle took it with shaking hands, placing it on her finger she said; "I am yours Rumplestiltskin, now and forever." He giggled and bowed to her mockingly as he offered his arm to her. As they were leaving he stuck his finger up in the air and glanced behind at her father, "Oh, congratulations of your _little_ war." He giggled again as they disappeared from her home forever.

-x-

The entrance hall was grand, grander than anything she had ever seen, but it was dark making it seem unwelcoming. Rumplestiltskin danced away from her, in a high voice he called out, "Boy!" He giggled at the confusion that must have been written on her face and fiddled with this dragon skin coat flaring the bottom out dramatically. "Yes Master," came a sweet young voice and Belle gasped at seeing him. The boy looked as far away from Rumplestiltskin's own looks that the contrast as he stood next to him was startling.

The boy had wild black hair, black as the darkest of nights, that was as wild as his Master's…just as untamed. His eyes were the most startling shade of green, like emeralds, clear and sparkling. He was young, no more then ten seasons surely but he looked healthy enough. His skin was smooth, and very pale, a complete contrast to Rumplestiltskin's skin whose skin was green-brown scales that shone with gold. "Well dearie, you will show our fair lady to her room, I have business to take care of," Rumplestiltskin said as he bent at the waist to talk to the young boy.

"Of course Master," the boy said bowing elaborately to Rumplestiltskin and Belle was amused to see that it looked exactly like the bow Rumplestiltskin had given her. He turned to her then smiling a bit, "This way my lady," he said as he made a motion with his hand for her to follow him. Rumplestiltskin had disappeared sometime during that brief exchange so Belle simply nodded and followed the boy a step behind him.

"You'll have to forgive me for being forward, but I somehow had the impression that Rumplestiltskin lived alone in the Dark Castle. Which begs the question, who are you?" Bella asked nervously. The boy smiled at her from over his shoulder and continued to lead her through the winding passages that would lead her to her room. "I'm not spoken of much, mostly because no one knows of me being here so no one can do the speaking." The boy said and giggled in an eerily similar way as his Master. "How is it that you came to be here?" Belle asked curious.

"I made a deal with Rumplestiltskin, some years ago, and have been here as his loyal servant ever since." The boy said as he turned down another passage. "What was the deal? If you don't mind me asking?" Belle asked cautiously. "Oh, not at all dearie, my deal was simple: give me a home, teach me magic, don't beat or starve me and I would be his to command forever." The boy said cheerily in a high voice reminiscent of his Master. "Surely you're situation couldn't have been so desperate?" Belle asked horrified.

The boy turned to her then, his smile all teeth; "I think you will find Belle there are fates much worse then serving Rumplestiltskin for the rest of eternity." Belle nodded in acceptance as he opened the door beside him, "These rooms are yours, all meals will be served in the great hall, and I will come to collect you to lead you there. Should you need anything ask the castle to provide it for you or call for me." He made as if to leave, "Wait!" Belle said, "You haven't told me your name!" The boy smiled at her giving her a familiar bow, "My apologizes you may call me Harry," he said, "I will be back within the hour to guide you to the great hall for supper."


	2. That Small Voice

**A.N. Just couldn't wait to continue this. **

**Chapter two: That Small Voice**

Harry smiled as he watched Belle bringing in the laden tea tray into the great hall and stayed silent in the corner hoping to see if his book was still close to reality still. His Master was sitting at the head of the long table smiling ironically, "You may do as you wish during the day, Harry will attend to whatever you might need. I expect you to be here for all meals and to prepare my tea every day." His hands fluttered this way and that as he was talking. Belle felt a bit nervous watching him, still unsure how she was supposed to behave with her strange new husband but still she replied, "Of course," as she moved to prepare his tea.

"You will fetch me fresh straw when I am spinning at the wheel," Rumplestiltskin continued. Belle replied, "Yes I understand," as she raise the cup for him. Harry sat forward just a bit so he could have a better look. "Oh," Rumplestiltskin said as if he almost forgotten something, "and you will skin the children I hunt for their pelts." Belle promptly dropped the cup she was holding in horror and Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing.

Rumplestiltskin smiled at him and told Belle, "that one was a quip, not serious," he giggled. Belle let her breath out in relief, "Oh, right," she smiled as she bent to retrieve the cup she dropped. "Oh, my, I'm so sorry but its chipped," Belle held the cup up nervously, "you can hardly see it." She held it up nervously for his inspection; afraid she had disappointed him by dropping it. He looked at her a bit amused, "Its just a cup." Belle let out a breath and put the cup back on the tray.

Harry was amused to see she was very relieved to not have been reprimanded and he was glad to see that his interference to get his Master to marry her hadn't changed too much. His Master rose after he had his tea to continue his work in the west wing and left the two of them in the great hall. As soon as he was sure his Master was far enough away for Belle to feel more comfortable he burst out in giggles.

Belle turned to scowl at him, hands on her hip, and her foot was capping impatiently, "Oh that was funny to you was it?" She said as she approached him menacingly but Harry simply tucked his book under his arm dancing away from her. "It was quite humorous," Harry replied as he danced around her to escape her questing hands. Belle huffed in annoyance, "well, I suppose it might be more humorous when you are not the one at the joke is in the expense of." Harry grinned at her as he perched himself at his Master's spinning wheel.

Belle got a considering look on her face as she looked at him, "You know I didn't expect there to be anyone else here when I agreed to Rumplestiltskin's deal." "Well, I am supposed to be a surprise you know," Harry said as he fluttered his hands a bit. "A surprise for whom?" Belle asked curious. "You know you shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answer to," Harry replied. Belle huffed again, "Fine, just answer me this. Why are you here Harry?" Belle asked curiously.

Harry gave here a considering look, "If you asked my Master that he would probably say that it's because no one breaks a deal with him." "Yes, but I'm not asking him, am I? I know you have a lot of magic too," Belle asked truly curious about her husband's mysterious helper. "I suppose you could say its because I love him," Harry replied smiling menacingly at her as if to challenge her to say something against that. "Oh," Belle said surprised barely resisting asking 'why'.

It didn't seem to matter that she hadn't voiced her thought, because Harry answered her all the same as if he heard her anyway. "My Master is many things, he can be hard, cruel, he has earned his title of Dark One…but he also took me in, saved me from a very horrible life, gave my life purpose. Love…true love...means that you all everything about someone…there darkness as much as their light. At least I think so, because no matter how much my Master wants the world to believe otherwise there is a bit of light in him." Harry said looking off in the distance. Belle was stunned, she had never really had given love much thought and here was a boy speaking as a wise old man.

She sat down at a chair and gave it some thought. "Did you know they say that true love's kiss can break any curse," Harry said after leaving to her thoughts for a while. Belle looked up at him startled and he hoped that this gamble would pay off. "Of course my Master isn't under a curse," he finished and he was a little disappointed to see her disappointment. "My Master carries power, power to do some amazing things, both good and bad," he carried on hoping she would listen to him. She looked up at him eyes searching his face, "After all there is no real good or evil, only power and those too weak to seek it," Harry finished.

He saw how she prickled, how she reared up to deny his statement and held back a smile…the game was on. "How can you say that? Of course there is evil as well as good, how can we have words to define them if they weren't real?" Belle demanded. "Evil isn't born dearie, its made," Harry said wagging his finger at her. "In the end there are always two sides to every story, depending on the telling one can be both, so there can be no real truth to those words," Harry said.

"What are you trying to say? Your tongue is just as sharp and wicked as your Master's," Belle replied frustrated with word games. "Simple my dear lady, all the stories told are from the side who won, so of course the opposition has to be evil for the triumph to be good. My Master is the perfect example of this," Harry smiled as he twirled his hands. "What do you mean? Say it or leave me to my thoughts," Belle demanded.

"Alright, I will, the deals my Master has made over the years has gained him his reputation for evil incarnate yes? You agree?" Harry began as she nodded her ascent. "Those stories are all one sided though, all magic comes with a price, those who seek my Master out do so with magic in mind…they hardly ever think about the price they have to pay, do they?" Harry said a giggle on his lips. "No one ever talks about the person who is willing to give up a child for a farm, how heartless that person must be to be willing to sell their own child…no they take about my Master…the one who asked for the child as his price for magic." Harry said eyes narrowed.

"He finds the children of such deals good homes, a good deal go to parents who treat them like treasures, they all say he is heartless for taking babies! Never is one word spoken about the parents willing to sell their babies for a bit of land or comfort. So no, I don't see how their can be true good or true evil…not when everyone is so ready to paint my Master the villain for exacting the price for his magic," Harry said gruffly. "Why ask for such a high price? Why ask for children at all?" Belle asked faltering in her resolve.

"All magic comes with a price, I told you that already," Harry said leaving her to her thoughts. It was a gamble, that whole conversation, it was all a very big gamble but if it worked out how he planned it would be worth it. True Love's kiss is very powerful magic, indeed if things worked out in any way similar to how it had in his book it was even strong enough to turn his Master back into an ordinary man. However, true love's kiss, like all magic, is guided by intent. If Belle doesn't think of the darkness in his Master as an affliction but as a part of the whole then that kiss won't weaken him…it should strengthen him.

Harry knew there was very little he could do about his Master's inclination to test his new wife, to see if she would come back if he sent her out, and there wasn't much he could do about Regina's machinations either. However, he could take that kiss's intent away from Regina and if everything worked out this time Belle wouldn't need Regina to come back. He would have to warn Belle against the Queen of course, as added insurance, but he had to step carefully. His Master wouldn't appreciate his manipulations even if it was for his benefit.

-x-

Belle had begun to study her husband, her strange husband, ever since that day that she had that conversation with Harry she couldn't get what was said out of her head. It made her seriously think on some things, begin to see things in a different light, and slowly that began to make her see her strange husband in a new light. Belle thought about the lessons her nurse had given her on how to be a dutiful wife and the last conversation they had about the duties of a wife in the bedchamber.

She had been so embarrassed during that talk, and then when she had come to the Dark Castle that embarrassment had turned into a mix of nervous anxiety. But her husband had yet to come to her bed, as was his right as her husband. At first Belle had to admit she had been relieved, slowly that relief had begun to turn to hurt at his continued absence as Belle thought it was something of a rejection. Since her conversation with Harry she had a lot of time to really think about her situation, about a lot of things really since there was very little for her to do to occupy her time.

Mostly Belle had been cleaning, on occasion sewing and cooking a bit too. That left a lot of time for thought since there wasn't anyone else around to distract her besides Rumplestiltskin and Harry. She had thought about love, about what she thought love was and she had come to realize that she was in like mind with Harry. Love was more then loving someone because they were 'good' or handsome. Love was layered, mysterious, love had no boundaries, and if you truly loved someone you couldn't pick and choose what you loved about them.

For Belle it was all or nothing, it just how her character was, one simply couldn't love someone halfway…that wasn't true love. Even before her deal with Rumplestiltskin Belle had resigned herself to a marriage without love as was her duty. Belle certainly had not considered the possibility of love after the deal…Rumplestiltskin had seemed too distant…to unreachable for such a thing. However, with Harry saying the things he had…with him expressing his love for such a man freely Belle had begun to question that.

Since then whenever Belle was in her husband's presence she tried to see him as Harry did, to look past the distant demeanor and really try to see him. What she saw surprised her a bit, Rumplestiltskin was funny in his own way, and he had a childlike energy about him like he couldn't keep still. He was graceful, always seemed to be almost dancing and she found that charming. Then she begun to notice his kindness, how he handled Harry…how he would soften just a little bit when interacting with him.

He had gotten her some new clothes recently too, pretty dresses that laced up the front to make it easier for her to dress and she had been touched by his consideration. He could have a sharp tongue, saying just the wrong thing to make you back away but Belle began to see the loneliness behind such actions. Today they were in the great hall again, Rumplestiltskin was spinning, Harry was reading a new magic book and she was tugging on the curtains trying not to be obvious in her study of her husband.

Belle always liked to watch him spinning, he was always so much more relaxed when he was at the wheel, which was surprising and made her curious. "Why do you spin so much?" Belle asked to curious to not ask. Rumplestiltskin stopped spinning to glance at her from over his shoulder and Belle felt the need to justify asking. "Sorry, it's just that you've spun more straw into gold than you could ever spend," Belle said.

"I like to watch the wheel," Rumplestiltskin said and Belle noticed that his voice was deeper "helps me forget." "Forget what?" Belle asked curious. "I guessed it work," he replied and giggled his strange little giggle. Belle couldn't help giggling with him, he was quite funny when he wanted to be, and then she tried tugging on the curtain again.

She heard him get up to walk closer to her, "What are you doing?" he asked curious about her tugging now. Belle ignored the flutter in her stomach that she got at his attention and answered, "Opening these, to let some light in!" Belle said as she tugged at the curtains in frustration as they refused to open. She looked at him in exasperation, "What did you do _nail_ them down?" "Yes," he said simply in reply. Belle huffed more resolved then ever to open them now that it was a challenge, then suddenly it gave away and she was falling. Before she could even become frightened of the landing she felt a strong pair of arms grab her.

Stunned she looked at her husband, a small blush on her cheeks and a flutter in her stomach as she looked at him. The expression on his face…she hadn't seen it before. She couldn't think of anything to say as she stared at him bathed in the light, she noticed that his skin was a shimmering golden color. She had thought it was a scaly greenish-brown, with the revealed golden shimmers in the light Belle thought his skin looked like a dragon's. Showing a dangerous beauty, "Thank you," she managed to say at last embarrassed at her thoughts.

He seemed to snap out of whatever had distracted him then and set her down. He almost seemed nervous in his movements now, "No matter," he said stepping away from her. "I'll put these back up," Belle said nervous. "Ah, there's no need…I'll get used to it." He gestured a bit with his hands as he spoke turning back to his spinning. Belle took note of that in her mind too, he was being considerate again and had to fight a smile.

-x-

Harry fiddled with his hands as he paced from one side of his study to the other. He had managed to convince Rumplestiltskin to show Belle the library as a way to make her more comfortable at the castle. He had of course failed to mention that in doing so it showed that his Master was being both considerate and generous. Belle loved to read, she would love such a gift…for a gift it would be in her eyes. That had been a little over a month ago, since then Harry noticed that Belle sought out Rumplestiltskin's company more and they were teasing each other.

They were getting more comfortable in each other's presence, having small conversations now, and Harry had managed to get his Master to give her a garden just last week. Belle had been so pleased she had hugged him, and Harry had wished he could have captured the look on his Master's face when she had. Now, Harry had looked far and wide for this next gift…only now he wasn't sure how to go about getting his Master to give it to Belle.

After the hug his Master had been a bit withdrawn, his moods a bit more volatile, and so he wasn't sure how to approach him with this without him getting suspicious. The basket moved a bit and Harry waved a hand willing the gift to settle back down with his magic. There was no other way; he would have to play a bit dirty with this one since he was sure his Master was softening to Belle more than he let on. So he grabbed the basket and brought it up to his Master's workroom in the west wing.

His Master seemed distracted, which was lucky for him, as he hopefully wouldn't see through Harry's words as quickly. "Master," Harry began. "Yes, dearie what is it?" Rumplestiltskin said as he waved a hand in his direction. "I was wondering if you noticed that Belle seemed a bit sad recently," Harry said. Rumplestiltskin nearly dropped a vial as he turned to look at him, "Why do you say that?" he asked seriously. "Well, I've been going on errands more for you, and you've had deals that have kept you away. That leaves Belle here by herself…I think she might be lonely." Harry said carefully.

Rumplestiltskin fidgeted impatiently, "So what am I supposed to do about _that_ dearie?" His eyes narrowed and Harry hurried on, "I actually thought that she might like a pet…to keep her company while we're away." Harry said handing the basket to him. "Why don't you give it to her at tea?" He asked as he hurried from the room leaving a bewildered Rumplestiltskin in his wake. Harry hid not to far away as Belle came a few moments later with a tea tray.

-x-

Belle smiled in delight as she picked up the most adorable puppy she had ever seen and couldn't help feeling surprised at the gift from her strange husband. She put the puppy back in the basket carefully and turned to look at Rumplestiltskin. He really was a mysterious man, he could be cruel…but he could be so very kind too. He had been nothing but kind to her…very generous and considerate. He must have noticed that she was lonely and gotten her a friend.

She felt something well up in her at the thought and before she could think about what she was doing she was kissing him. His eyes went wide, stunned, but Belle closed her eyes to it. This was her very first kiss and she was determined to enjoy it. His lips were soft, his hands fluttered at her waist, and she pulled away a bit to look at him. He didn't seem to know what to do, she smiled at that, surprising the trickster…imagine that. She giggled and made to pull away. However, before she could he tugged her back into his arms and kissed her again making her gasp. He took advantage of that to plunder her mouth with his questing tongue and Belle sighed into the kiss tentatively copying his movements.


	3. Beyond Skin Deep

**A.N.: For those of you who haven't seen the show Once Upon a Time…I'll be happy to explain any details you find confusing or answer any questions you have. The show has a weird format that makes it hard for a linear storyline, I'll do my best though! Lol**

**Chapter 3: Beyond Skin Deep**

Harry hid his smirk as they danced around each other trying not to be obvious about wanting him to leave. Since the puppy, who Belle named Kit, Belle and Rumplestiltskin had gotten considerably more friendly with each other. Harry had caught the stolen glances, the shy kisses, and he had to keep a tight hold on himself to keep from giggling at them. Today was a big day, the cards said today was a day of choices so Harry hoped he had changed Belle's thinking enough that she passed the test this time.

They danced around each other, Harry could tell his Master was unbalanced as he kept his distance from her but stayed close. "Why did you want me here?" Belle asked. "Place was filthy," Rumplestiltskin quipped. "I think you were lonely," Belle said, "Any man would be lonely." "I am not a man," Rumplestiltskin replied sitting down beside her. "So, I've been here for a few months now…I found some clothes…small as if for a child. Was it yours or was there a son?" Belle asked gently. "There was a son, I lost him…as I did his mother." Rumplestiltskin said and Belle thought she had never seen him so sad.

"I'm sorry," Belle said, "If I am never going to know another person in my life, can't I at least know you two?" "Perhaps…perhaps you just want to know the monsters weakness? Nah..." Rumplestiltskin said ironically wagging a finger at her. "Your not a monster," Belle said as she hummed at him. Then there was a knocking at the door, the first she had ever heard in her time here and Rumplestiltskin left to answer the door.

He came back with a rose for her and she giggled, "Why thank you," she curtseyed and he bowed in return. She giggled and went to put the rose in a vase. "You had a life Belle, before this, friends, family…another fiancée what made you choose to come here with me?" Rumplestiltskin said. "Heroism…sacrifice…you know there aren't a lot of opportunities in this land for women to show what they can do. To see the world, to be heroes! So when you arrived that was my chance, I always wanted to be brave, I figured do the brave thing and bravery will follow." Belle said.

"And is it everything you hoped?" Rumplestiltskin asked ironically bobbing his head and waving his hand with flourish. Belle giggled, "Well, I did want to see the world," She smiled at him, "that part didn't really work out…but I did save my village." "And what about your ahhh former betrothed?" Rumplestiltskin asked fluttering his hands. "It was an arranged marriage. Honestly I never cared much for Gaston," Belle said smiling at him.

She considered him a moment, thinking about these last few months, her discussions with Harry about what love really was and what that meant. "To me love is layered, love is a mystery to be uncovered, love is seeing the whole of someone and loving it all, the good things along with the bad, love is standing by someone no matter what, I could never give my heart to someone as superficial as he. And I doubt he could ever truly care for me." Belle said gazing at him. "But you were going to tell me about your son," Belle said.

Rumplestiltskin replied, "I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal, go to town and fetch me some straw when you return I'll tell you a tale." "Town…you trust me to go?" Belle asked confused. "Oh no, I believe I'll never see you again," Rumplestiltskin replied looking as distant as ever. Harry knew that it was time as soon as he said that, it was time for the true test on how much had changed. Harry had warned her about some of the Rumplestiltskin's more powerful rivals, Regina carefully among them, and he hoped she would be truthful this time.

-x-

Belle walked slowly, enjoying the freedom of walking on a road for the first time in months and used the quiet to bring order to her thoughts. She intended to return to the Dark Castle, but she also knew that this was a test for her. Her husband was not a trusting man, he had been hurt too much, had hurt people too much to be one who could trust anyone easily. This was her test, to see if she might be worthy of his trust and Belle fully intended on passing with flying colors.

Still, being outside the Dark Castle was more unnerving then she had cared to admit and made Belle wonder how she had gotten used to the feeling of the castle's magic. The sound of a horse drawn carriage startled her badly, and made her move quickly to the side of the road to avoid being run over. Belle was surprised when it pulled to a stop right next to her, the carriage, the horses; the knights riding at the head and back were all black.

The door to the carriage opened revealing a beautiful woman, unsurprisingly dressed in black, and with a full mouth painted a deep red. She smiled at her, and said, "Did my carriage splash you?" Belle studied her, the black, the tight clothes, the red lips, the dramatic hair and the beautiful face. It was all as Harry had described to her, Regina, the Witch Queen, Rumplestiltskin's one time student turned bitter rival. "Oh no I'm fine," Belle said smiling, turning away quickly to leave and hoping she would do so too.

"You know I'm tired of riding, let me stretch my legs with you for a spell," Regina replied smiling. Belle was nervous, this woman was a very dangerous person and she had to tread carefully. Belle nodded a bit and allowed Regina to take her arm so that the may walk together. Belle was thinking furiously on everything that Harry had ever told her about Regina. She was the daughter of a witch who had fallen in love with a stable boy; her witch mother had ripped his heart out and had killed him in front of Regina. Regina instead of placing the blame with the murderer of her beloved had instead blamed the princess Snow White instead.

Belle had remembered how confused she had been about that since Snow White had only been a naïve little girl that had been tricked into telling Regina's mother about the stable boy. Still Regina had married Snow White's father, become Queen, and had somehow gotten someone to kill the King for her. All for her vendetta against a lonely little girl who hadn't known better than to tell Regina's mother a secret. Belle had remembered hearing about Snow White's running away a few years back but hadn't thought anything of at the time.

"You carry very little," Regina commented. Belle answered almost automatically thoughts still storming on how to escape this woman's presence, "I don't want to be slowed down." "Ohh, running from someone, question is Master or Lover," Regina said. Belle couldn't think of a reply to that since she wasn't running away just hadn't wanted to be away from home for very long. "Ah, Master and Lover," Regina said to her silence.

"I might take a rest you go on ahead," Belle said hoping she would leave. Regina just tightened her grip on her arm instead, "So if I'm right you love your employer but you're leaving him." Belle was getting more and more nervous that she wouldn't be able to escape this woman's grasp. "I think love has many faces, I just don't think he can love me," Belle replied carefully leaving out the 'yet'. "Sounds like a curse to me, and all curses can be broken," Regina replied.

Belle disagreed though she wouldn't say that to this woman, Rumplestiltskin didn't love her yet not because of some dark curse. It was because he didn't think himself worthy of love, giving or receiving. It would take a lot of time, a lot of patience, before he would accept that she loved him and even more before he could admit to feeling the same. That wasn't a curse that was normal; a person carrying a broken heart took a longer time to mend it enough to give it away again. That was okay Belle could wait.

"A kiss born of true love could do it," Regina whispered dangerously. Belle didn't think so, a kiss, even of true love, could not heal a broken heart such things were beyond magic…Harry had told her as much already. "Yes, true love's kiss can break any curse," Regina said. Belle didn't think the witch Queen would appreciate her arguing against that so Belle kept her silence and the Queen left shortly after that. The entire visit had been disturbing, but Belle was glad that Harry had already taught her so much more about true love's kiss otherwise she would have been so confused about that encounter.

True Love's kiss could break any curse, if that was the intention of the kiss of course, but that wasn't what was wrong with Rumplestiltskin. His magic wasn't a curse, it was his gift, and Belle thought that it gave him the power to do as he wanted. Harry had been sure she had known that already, and Belle didn't know what that Witch Queen had wanted though she was sure it wasn't good. Belle felt her temper riling up at the thought of how she could have been so easily manipulated if Harry hadn't taught her as much as he had. Well, Belle would be sure to pay Regina back in time.

-x-

Harry watched his Master watch the road from the window, until he saw her on the road and went running to his spinning wheel. But Harry knew Belle was coming back, it was just what was going to happen after she did that would determine if that was a good thing or not. He was getting better at the whole subtle manipulations into getting people to do as he wanted but he wasn't quite as good as his Master was at predicting the outcomes. Rumplestiltskin was a master at getting things to go his way and Harry hoped he had learned well enough to see this plan come to fruition.

Belle came back as planned and Harry wrapped the shadows around his form to hide from their eyes. He was sure his Master would forget him in a moment, now that Belle was sitting with him at his wheel. "You came back," Rumplestiltskin said in disbelief. "That was always my intention," Belle said looking at him with nervous energy. "I would have been back sooner if I hadn't been delayed," Belle said. "Delayed dearie," Rumplestiltskin asked dangerously. "Harry warned me about some of your…rivals…I was stopped by Regina on the road, I knew her immediately because she matched the description he gave of her. I didn't know what to do," Belle said as she cast her eyes to her hands folded in her lap.

"It was my intention to return, she tried talking to me but I was too terrified to listen. All I thought about was getting back home." Belle said. "Home," Rumplestiltskin choked. Belle looked up then, at his disbelieving face, and her shoulders squared suddenly resolved. "Yes home, I love you Rumplestiltskin and I wanted to come home," then she kissed him. A surge of power rushed through him and he wrapped her up in his arms. Rumplestiltskin's skin glowed with the power surge, smoothing becoming more golden until his skin looked less like a toad and more like a dragon's.

Harry would have laughed had he not wanted to ruin the moment; it looked as if Belle had taken to the right way of thinking in these short few months Harry had to work on her ideals. She must have really liked his skin that way for it to have barely changed, the power boost would make his Master very happy when he finally noticed. Harry smiled, it worked, he felt his Master's powering growing from that kiss and then he left them to work the rest of it out. His Master had his insecurities, that was clear from how this went the last time, and Belle had a long road ahead of her. However, at least he had managed to keep them together this time…what would come of that remained to be seen.

-x-

Harry noticed the difference right away, Belle was sleeping in Rumplestiltskin's chambers now, and they were freer with their touches and looks. Belle more so then his Master but that was to be expected. He was sent out on more and more errands now, as his Master was more reluctant to leave his young wife's side. There was a change in the wind now, and not only for them. The cards had told him to expect something entirely unexpected today but he wasn't sure if it would be a good one.

He had been anxious all day, making it hard to concentrate and learn the new tricks his Master wanted to teach him. Belle noticed and she kept sending him concerned looks all through the day. It finally happened at teatime in the great hall, and the cards were right it was not what he expected at all. He was a bit irritated if he was honest with himself, his eye twitched as he stared down the owl as it held out its leg and his Master giggled at him from the doorway.

Finally Harry took the letter from the bird cautiously, mindful of its beak, to look at it. The letter was addressed to him, To Mr. H. Potter the suite in the upper west wing, Dark Castle, enchanted forest. It made him irritated at whoever had the audacity to spy on his Master and opened the letter to see whom it was from.

_Dear Harry Potter, _

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Please find enclosed list of all the necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later then July 31. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Minvera McGonagall _

Deputy Headmistress

Harry sent a negligent glance at the supply list and then he sent the letter flying into his Master's hands. "It seems we might have a problem," Harry said with a wave of his hand as he got up. His Master giggled a bit, "It seems so dearie, but appearances are not everything." His voice dropped a pitch at the end and Harry knew his Master was up to something from the look on his face. "What is it Master? What do you require of me?" Harry asked worried about where this might lead.

"This parchment," Rumplestiltskin said as he danced closer to the table, "this bird," he grabbed the owl suddenly freezing it mid-screech, "they are from another world entirely." His voice was a harsh whisper as he looked between Harry's letter and the owl that delivered it. Harry knew something was brewing in that mind of his, "Yet still a world with magic…not the one we seek…" Harry said in turn. Rumplestiltskin looked at him dangerously then and Harry bowed his head in submission.

"Your right dearie, another world, but the wrong one all the same," Rumplestiltskin said with a little giggle. "Still, one must never turn down an opportunity to learn magic not yet explored. I think I shall send you to this…'Hogwarts'," he giggled maliciously. "They trust you enough to share their secrets with you…perhaps they may even have a solution to our little problem." Rumplestiltskin said his voice a low contemplative whisper.

Harry knew there was no point to argue with him, Rumplestiltskin was his Master for the rest of eternity and his decisions were final. "This still leaves us with the problem of finding a passage between worlds Master," Harry said eyes firmly on the floor. Rumplestiltskin giggled, "Not quite dearie, not quite," he said as he twirled the owl in his hand. Harry didn't look up from the floor until he heard his Master's feet on the staircase…no doubt heading for his workshop in the west wing.

Belle looked very concerned, "Are you alright Harry?" Harry grinned at her, "Quite alright dearie, must be off soon have to see about getting the supplies needed for this new school." "Are you sure Harry? I could try talking to him if you don't want to go?" Belle asked coming to rest her hand on his shoulder. Harry suppressed a flinch, not used to being touched by anyone, and he danced out from under her hand. "I am alright my Lady, Rumplestiltskin is my Master and I shall do as he bids." Harry said as he moved to follow his Master up to the workroom.

"What world are you looking for?" Belle asked stopping Harry in his tracks. "That dearie is not my tale to tell," He looked over his shoulder at her teeth bared in a vicious grin, "I will remind you though that my Master promised you a tale should you return. You came back I think you should remind him of his bargain soon." Harry spoke in a low tone using subtle magic as he always did to make sure his Master didn't overhear. This play would be another dangerous one, however, Harry was beginning to see that like his Master doing dangerous things were starting to have an appeal.

-x-

Belle watched Kit play in the garden with a small smile, and began thinking about her time in the Dark Castle. Belle knew that her husband was secretive, mysterious…dangerous even but still she couldn't bring herself to mind his dark ways. As it often did when her mind wandered to Rumplestiltskin her thoughts soon turned to love. Love was not what she had expected as a little girl, it wasn't a bright light that warmed you with its rays, nor was it as changeable as the wind as some would say.

Love was an unexpected fire in the dark of the night, luring you in while casting shadows that hid the harsher things from sight. Love burned you up, gave you purpose, lit your way, love was so much more than she had ever expected. Belle had never thought that love could be something that ever came her way, even before her deal, and now that she had it inside her heart for someone Belle wondered how she could have lived without it.

She had always done her duty, done what was expected of her, Belle had forced herself to be content with the life her father had chosen for her. Belle had learned all that was asked of her, she had learned how to be the dutiful wife, to give herself to the idea that little happiness would ever come from her future marriage and that she was just a vessel for her husbands heirs. Yet, when she had been given the chance to change the course of her life…to actually choose her husband…she had taken it.

Rumplestiltskin may not be a man, may not even be a good person, but he was **her** choice. He was the one she had chosen to save her village and to be her one great act of bravery. Belle had expected that her life as Rumplestiltskin's wife to not be that different from the life she would have had with Gaston. Belle had expected to be the token on her husband's arm, to suffer through his visits to her bedchamber, to bear his children and be the dutiful wife.

Yet Rumplestiltskin continued to surprise her, as much Belle expected as she surprised him. He had not come to her on their wedding night, as was his due, had been nothing but a gentleman in fact to her. He had kept his distance, and he had expected little from her other than that she stay at the Dark Castle. Her confusion had only increased every time she had her little conversations with Harry, Rumplestiltskin's small boy-servant. Those conversations had her questioning her every belief, on love, on life, on good and evil.

For one as small and young as Harry, he was wise beyond his years. A little trickster too, and in her private thoughts Belle thought of Harry as a miniature Rumplestiltskin as his mannerisms were all so very similar to his Master's. Harry was the one who opened her eyes to the possibility of loving someone as dark as Rumplestiltskin, and well Rumplestiltskin had won her heart in his own way. Being the wife to such a being was not an easy thing; Belle admitted she was a soft woman with a tender heart. Hurting people could never bring one such as her joy, only heartache, and she suffered no delusions that her husband did not enjoy his work. No, Rumplestiltskin reveled in his power over others but as Harry had been so keen to point out to her…loving someone meant that you loved all of them…not just what you liked.

Belle knew loving Rumplestiltskin would never be an easy thing, he would keep secrets, he would hurt people and enjoy doing it. However, Rumplestiltskin was her _**husband**_, he was kind and generous to her. Belle knew in her heart that he would never harm her intentionally and he would protect her always. As a noble woman raised to suffer through a marriage, expecting very little joy and even less kindness Belle counted herself very lucky. Being married to Rumplestiltskin would never be dull, she would face adventure at every turn and danger…she would have to be very brave. Belle felt a smile break out luminously across her face as she watched her puppy play.

Her life was nothing she had ever expected…it was so much better than anything she had ever dreamed. Humming in thought Belle smoothed a hand down her stomach, and maybe one day there would be children to fill the quiet of the Dark Castle's halls. She smiled wider at the thought of babies with her eyes and his golden skin. There could be a lot of joy in that.

-x-

Harry sat in silence as he watched his Master flit about the workroom working magic that was far beyond him. Harry wasn't sure what he was would do at this Hogwarts, all he ever known was at the Dark Castle and though he had often left on errands he had never been away for any significant amount of time. Rumplestiltskin was too intent at getting the opportunity to learn the secrets of another magic using society that he could not be persuaded off this course.

There was hope yet, Harry was sure that even he took lessons from these people that his Master would still call him to his side frequently. Belle would need him occasionally also, Harry knew she had come to rely on him for deep discussions on things she was uncomfortable speaking of with his Master. That was a comfort at least, Harry didn't know how he would cope if he was no longer useful anymore.

"Master," Harry said when he saw Rumplestiltskin pause for a moment. "Yes dearie," Rumplestiltskin replied as he stirred his bubbling cauldron. "Most of these things are easy enough to procure…but this wand," Harry said leaving the question hanging in the air. "It wont be a problem dearie," Rumplestiltskin giggled, "I know just who to see about locating one." Harry left it at that, he recognized the gleam in his Master's eye when he was planning something and knew it was best to let things unfold as his Master willed it.

When later in that week Harry heard that King George's son had been killed quite suddenly by a seemingly dead man Harry knew better than to question his Master on it. Harry recognized his Master's subtle plans immediately because he was learning to do the same himself. Rumplestiltskin had already given him a necklace made from his spun gold and the owl that had delivered the letter to him in the first place. It was a bit morbid; the owl had been shrunken down, cast in gold, but into a crystal vial to hang about his neck.

To anyone else it looked like a golden charm that had amazing details, but Harry knew better. Rumplestiltskin had been remorseless about making him wear a dead animal as the said animal had enough magic inside of it to transverse worlds. Now all Harry had to do to go between worlds was turn the three times while picturing where he wanted to end up. The first time will be quite difficult as he only had vague memories of the park his Master had collected him from and could only picture his cupboard at first with any clarity.


	4. Desperate Souls

**A.N.: Things are picking up…soon Hogwarts…then the world MWAHAHAHA lol Jk…or maybe not lol**

**Chapter 4: Desperate Souls**

King George was a desperate man, his kingdom was in dire need, his only son had been struck down trying to help and now he had very little options left. He had hoped that his son, James, after having proven himself in battle against one of King Midas' knights that he could slay the dragon plaguing said King's lands. In doing so they could procure Midas' daughter's hand for his son James and in doing so ensure their own land's happiness. Midas' right hand turned all it touched into gold; they would never have to worry about money or famine again.

It had looked like they might have succeeded to, James had felled the knight, Midas had agreed to King George's terms, and had left to prepare his daughter. Then that man, that lowly man who James had bested had struck while his son's back was turned from the ground killing him. His son, his champion, his dragon slayer, was dead. King George had cried his tears, but he still had a kingdom to look after. "I have sent for help, it should be here soon," King George said to his uneasy advisors. "Oh its here," came the unmistakable high mocking voice from behind them.

"Leave us," King George said as soon as he saw him. "So this is how you treat my gifts, you really must be more careful," Rumplestiltskin said mockingly. "He was not a gift, he was my son," King George bit back pain still lingering in his voice. "A son I gave you," Rumplestiltskin replied. "In a deal we made," King George replied defensively, "you did me no favors." "Yes, yes I did, shame you and the Queen couldn't conceive a child on your own. My price for that was a pittance, but now that she's gone I assume that conceiving another heir is out of the question," Rumplestiltskin quipped, "let alone a dragon slayer."

"Then let's do another deal, bring him back, I need my son to do this, I'll give you anything," King George said not really hiding his desperation. "Anything?" Rumplestiltskin said turning to face him with flourish. "What do you want?" King George asked tensely. "There is a magic wand I desire, it belongs to a certain fairy godmother that is patron to your family…I want to know her whereabouts," Rumplestiltskin's voice was dangerous absent his usual flourish.

King George tensed, "Done," he said quietly. "That's not all dearie," Rumplestiltskin said. King George nodded, "What else?" "The head of this dragon belongs to Midas…the body you will give to me," Rumplestiltskin said gleefully. "Done, now tell me how to bring my son back!" King George demanded. "Bring him back? No, that's out of the question he's dead," Rumplestiltskin said laughingly, "Magic can do much but not that!"

"But you just said…" King George began angrily. "Nothing about resurrection dearie," Rumplestiltskin interrupted. "Then the kingdom…it is lost," King George said defeat coloring his words, "I am alone." "Oh dear, oh dearie dearie dear, did I not tell you that I can have your son slay the dragon?" Rumplestiltskin said, "And am I not a man of my word?" "I thought you said he was gone forever," King George yelled. "Oh that he is, but his brother," Rumplestiltskin began. "What?" King George interrupted. "His twin brother, did I not mention there was another?" Rumplestiltskin giggled.

-x-

Rumplestiltskin was feeling very pleased with himself, he had gotten the twin to King George and he had finally tracked down that elusive fairy godmother. Soon, Harry would have his wand and his plans for the twin would come to a head. The Fairy Godmother was talking to some downtrodden desperate soul now, probably promising a magic solution to all her problems and Rumplestiltskin was all too happy to destroy her.

The wand fell, he picked it up, smug with now having the power to even kill Fairies…Belle's kisses were certainly more than he had expected. "What have you done!" The filthy looking girl demanded. "Now, now dearie I got what I wanted no need to be frightened," Rumplestiltskin said ironically. "No need? You just killed my fairy godmother! She was trying to help me," The girl covered in soot said breathless at first then steely with anger.

"Do you know what this is?" Rumplestiltskin asked sing songingly. "Pure magic," The cinder covered girl said with a desperate smile. "Pure evil, trust me I did you a favor," Rumplestiltskin replied. "All magic," Rumplestiltskin said waving one hand and then the other, "comes with a price. Go back to your life, and thank your lucky stars that you have something to go back to!" "My life…is wretched," The dirty girl said despondently.

"Then change it," Rumplestiltskin sneered holding up the wand, "you can't handle this." He turned intending to go back to give his apprentice his new wand and forget about this desperate girl who was too stupid to see the choices she had laid out for her. "Wait please wait," she said as came running in front of him, "I _can _handle it. Please I will do _anything _to get out of here _**anything**_." "Anything?" Rumplestiltskin said feeling the pull of a deal stirring up inside of him.

"Do you know how to use that wand? Mr…?" She asked frantic. Rumplestiltskin grinned, bowing elaborately he said, "Rumplestiltskin," with unnecessary flourish. The pull of a deal with a desperate soul was too much to ignore so he let himself revel in the rush of it. "And yes of course I do." He continued his mouth pulled into a tight sneer feeling anger at this woman. She was so desperate for a quick solution to her problems that she ignored the fact that she could change them herself if she was so inclined.

"Then help me," The cinder girl said tense with hope. "Well if I do," Rumplestiltskin began as he moved closer to the girl, "and you can indeed shoulder the _consequences_, then you'll owe me a favor." "Name it," The cinder girl said quickly, "what do you want?" He circled her feeling very much the predator he was as he did so leaning in close to her face he replied, "Something precious." "I have nothing," she replied breathless.

"Oh, but you will…with this wish will come riches more than you know!" Rumplestiltskin said as he moved away from her hand waving in an exaggerated manner. "I care nothing for riches, I'll give you anything you want! Just get me out of here!" Cinder girl replied. Rumplestiltskin's eyebrows rose a bit, this girl was like all the rest who were desperate for a quick solution to their problem, he smiled at how foolish she was being. "Now we're talking," Rumplestiltskin said lowly.

"How does it work?" she asked anxious. "Fear not! My needs are small," Rumplestiltskin said pinching the air, "all you have to do is sign on the dotted line." He snapped his fingers and a contract appeared in a cloud of purple smoke between his fingers along with a quill. "Do we have a deal?" Rumplestiltskin said grinning in anticipation. "Yes," Cinder girl said as she snatched the quill from his fingers, "Yes, thank you."

He squatted so she could use his back to write on and nearly laughed as she signed it without taking the time to read the fine print. Rumplestiltskin hummed in disgust with he turned to check her handiwork and kept the smile on his face as he flicked the wand at her gracefully. She was enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke from his magic and as it cleared he stood back to admire his handiwork. The dress was elaborate, a pretty blue, her hair was done up nicely, she was adorned in jewels and most importantly she was clean.

Rumplestiltskin giggled at her ecstatic face. "Glass?" She asked when she caught sight of a pair of finely made glass heels next to her. "Every story needs a memorable detail! Now lets see how they fit shall we?" Rumplestiltskin said as she smiled widely while slipping into them. "Now you have a good time dearie! But be sure to watch the clock!" He said giggling as he left her to ride her new conjured carriage to a ball.

He glanced at the contract in his hands, eyes skimming it picking up the reference to her giving him her first-born child quite a few times on it. Rumplestiltskin snorted in disgust, if she had bothered to read it _before_ she had signed, she would know what lied ahead of her and he wasn't about to ruin the surprise now. People like that Cinder girl disgusted him, people who had the means to change their life but didn't do so merely waiting for someone to come save them. There are no such heroes, all things like that came at a price and never was it something trivial.

Rumplestiltskin giggled as he walked the path that would lead him to the Dark Castle, "All Magic comes at a price dearie, you should always negotiate that price ahead of time." His apprentice had done that; he had been a small boy with no means to change his situation for the better, unlike that worthless woman. Harry had seen that he had very few options out of his wretched life and had made a 'deal with the devil' fully conscious that there would be a steep price for such a thing. Rumplestiltskin couldn't quite figure out how a five year old could see such things but a girl nearly a woman could not.

**-x-**

Harry wasn't sure if he should be happy or suspicious that his plans seemed to be lining up perfectly as planned. Nothing really goes as planned after all, there was always that possibility that something could go wrong…something you hadn't foreseen. He shuffled his deck, mindful of his question, concentrating on the cards searching for the feeling of them before he began to lay them out before him. The tarot cards had once belonged to a gypsy, but Regina had ripped the poor girls heart out.

Of course that had been his Master's plan the entire time, he had wanted to create the monster that was Regina because she needed to be his ace in the whole. The tarot cards themselves had come from a land that was seeped in seeking ways to see the future…they were a very powerful deck but they certainly didn't look special. Harry laid each card out with care; mindful of his question the entire time, and when he was finished he was more confused than ever.

His plans were going flawlessly, Belle was seeking his council, his Master was growing in power fed by her love, he was careful to hide his existence and none of the pawns knew the Master. Yet, he hadn't thought about his home world, hadn't thought anyone would ever seek him out once he had gone and now that left the potential to ruin everything. For plans to work you needed to be there to exact them, strings needed to be plucked, webs weaved, and it was all a delicate game.

Harry hadn't counted on being called back to a magical school of all things, hadn't anticipated that he wouldn't be available to operate his web. However, his Master bid that he go and since selling himself to his will Harry had no choice but to comply…as his Master willed it so it should be done. Harry was under no illusions, he was a willing slave for he had sold himself for a better chance at life and that meant it was a price that had to be paid continually.

The cards said that his journey into his home world had the potential for glory, but also great pain. It would affect his plans, but he would be able to face such things allowing him to continue on his path. There was potential…there was disaster, and it was sitting on a razor edge willing to go both ways. Harry knew he would have to be careful, he would need to plan his moves cautiously, he needed to work harder on Belle and find a way to continue his plans while obeying his Master's will to attend school.

Sighing Harry knew he could hold off no longer he needed to learn what he could of his world's magic users and scout out the place before he did anything. He took his new necklace out from where it was tucked under his shirt and twirled it three times picturing the cupboard under the stairs very clearly. He coughed when he landed, there was dust coating everything, but in all, everything was just as he had left it.

When he tired the door however Harry realized it had been boarded shut and was irritated about that, his former Masters were such fools. Harry willed it to open, the door creaked horribly as his magic pushed it open and Harry stepped out gracefully dusting himself off as he did. There was a whimper and Harry turned to see Petunia in the hall by the stairs, staring at him as if she had seen a ghost. Harry felt a great welling up of hatred; he had thought himself past his time locked under the stairs but seeing her put his teeth on edge.

Almost without thinking about it he advanced on her, forcefully jabbing his hand into her chest to grab her heart and Harry ripped it from her vehemently. She went white as a sheet, seeing her heart in his hands beating, and then she screamed. It was a horrible sound, "Shut up," Harry said squeezing her heart in his hand. She fell silent as she fell to the ground, Harry reveled in the power he had over her and giggled.

His Master had taught him this spell a while ago, taking a heart from anything living gave the taker complete control over the one whose heart was taken. It made the heart an enchanted heart, able to beat outside the body, it glowed red with power and felt like soft stone. This was the first time he had done it, he watched Petunia struggle faintly on the ground, and remembered his Master's words of caution. This spell was addictive, it gave you absolute power over another, it was easy to get carried away collecting hearts and let the magic control you instead of the other way around.

"Get up," Harry said turning from her knowing she would have no choice but to follow. Petunia followed him into the kitchen, looking weak and barely able to stand. "Sit," Harry commanded, the heart in his hand beat a heavy rhythm. She sat, remaining silent just as he had bid, and he was glad for it. "Now, so that you fully understand your situation I'll explain this to you only once, so listen carefully. You are now mine, my servant, my every wish is your desire, if you try to run, try to disobey, to deceive me or do anything to displease me…" Harry smiled at her viciously, "all I have to do is _squeeze_."

He squeezed the heart lightly, watching as she slumped onto the table bonelessly feeling her life slip away slowly and then he stopped. "Now you are going to tell me everything you know about magic, you will do so calmly, you will not scream or beg. Understood?" Harry said. "Yes," She croaked out, "I understand." Petunia knew a surprising amount of information, how to find these magic users, how they communicated, where to get his supplies, how many years they expected him to attend this 'Hogwarts' and a little about the school itself.

Harry slipped his new heart into the bag at his side, mindful of the spools of gold he had brought along, "Nicely done Petunia I will inform you should I have need of you…for now act as normal and tell no one about what has occurred today." Harry left her there crying her eyes out and feeling a bit better about those years he had spent doing the same under the stairs in the house. Finding his way to London was easy, magic was a wonderful thing, and then getting into 'Diagon Alley' was child's play.

He wasn't very impressed with it to be honest; it looked like every other market he had been to back home and had very few things that truly interested him. However, Harry knew his Master would want quite a few things from this place and made his way to the bank with exchanging his gold for some currency. That turned out to be easy enough though the goblins drove a hard bargain but he was the apprentice of _the Dealmaker_ so it was no trouble getting what he wanted.

Harry noticed he wasn't attracting very much attention, the alley was flooded with children, and he was just one of many. His clothes were similar enough to everyone else that it allowed him to blend in. He had on tight black pants, a flowing white tunic shirt, an equally tight green vest, and a long black overcoat that looked almost similar to these people's robes. He blended, even with his slightly chaotic wild black hair and glowing green eyes…no one paid him any mind.

He wandered the alley, checking his supply list, buying things as he needed, getting things he thought his Master might want, and slowly making his way through the alley. He got a trunk that had all sorts of enchantments, got another one as a spare his Master could study, along with another shoulder bag that had an expanded charm on it similar to the one he had made himself to hold his book. He went slowly being very thorough in his investigation, knowing he would have some time before he would need to go back to his Master's side.

When he made it to the bookshop Harry decided he would need to get two copies of every book that was available for sale and by the time he was finished Harry wanted to go home. There would be time to come back to the Alley with more money, more time to explore and get things his Master would want. With that in mind he left the store turning the owl so that by the time his foot should have hit the ground in the alley he was stepping into the Dark Castle instead.


	5. The Boy Who Lived

**A.N.: In case you didn't notice this story is posted twice on my profile under very similar names. I did it that way so the story could be seen under the crossover category as well as just in the HP section. I wanted to give the story more of a chance to be found and read…that's why its being posted after all! To be read! So here a new chapter! Please review and tell me what you think or if you have any ideas you want to put in. **

**Chapter 5: The Boy Who Lived**

Harry turned over the wand his master had given him in his hands studying it and trying to get used to the weight. What it was made of was a mystery; it felt like cool crystal, maybe pure diamond, its hilt was inlaid with an intricate metal design but again the metal could be any number of things. Fairies, unlike most, had a natural magic inside of them that allowed them to travel through many worlds…as long as the worlds had the magic to support them of course.

So this fairy wand could be made from anything, all Harry knew about it was that it was powerful, twelve inches long, and responded to his magic nicely. He tucked his new wand back into the arm holster on his right forearm and picked his new book back up. This one had a compilation of the most need to know facts about the magical world in his homeland. Towers of stacked books currently surrounded Harry as he sat on one book tower in his room.

Rumplestiltskin had already taken his copies to the library and had been very pleased with him over his new gifts. Harry had managed to return to the alley at least once a day since his first visit a week ago and every time he had brought back his master some new magical item to play with. Rumplestiltskin was so pleased by this he had been steadily allowing him more freedoms, and more gold for more items.

Harry set down his book as he reread the passage about time turners, which would be a very advantageous item to add to his growing collection. However, getting it would be something of challenge unless he managed to find someone to make a deal with within this Ministry of magic. It was something to look into at least, and feeling the need to Harry pulled out his deck of tarot cards shuffling them with practiced ease. He laid them out slowly, there was a ripple in the future, something that could change everything, and all he needed to turn it in his favor was something small. Harry smirked wickedly, "Isn't that an interesting turn of events."

-x-

Rumplestiltskin was tinkering with something Harry said was called a foe glass, something that would be extremely useful in his line of work, when said boy entered his workroom. "Yes, dearie?" Rumplestiltskin said as he twisted the glass every which way. Harry hadn't been in his workroom much this week since he had given him his own workroom down the hall as a reward for all his clever little gifts. "I have seen something in the cards that you must act on quickly," Harry said cheerfully as he nearly skipped over to Rumplestiltskin.

"Oh, do tell dearie," Rumplestiltskin said with a flourish on his hand giving the boy his attention. Harry smiled wickedly, "Regina is going to send two children into the blind witch's house…you know the one that eats children?" Rumplestiltskin giggled, "Now what would dear Regina want from the blind witch?" "She wants a spell, that's not important though, what is important is that the children will turn the tables on the blind witch…she'll be pushed into her own oven!" Harry said giggling.

"This is all very interesting, but I fail to see what's so important dearie," Rumplestiltskin said. "The point being is that Belle doesn't have magic…but the blind witch does. If you give the children what they need, they wont kill the witch, then you can use _that_ spell to give the witch's magic to Belle." Harry said smirking. Rumplestiltskin blinked, looking over his young apprentice seriously, "Why would Belle need magic dearie?" "Simple…the cards said that if she doesn't get magic…and soon…then she'll die. We don't want that now do we?" Harry said quietly creepy knowing smile on his face.

Rumplestiltskin froze, he put down the foe glass slowly, "When will Regina be making her move." Harry smile widened, "The children will be at the gingerbread house at noon, if you leave now you can get this done by tonight." Rumplestiltskin nodded before he got up striding across the room, he paused by the door to say, "I abide by your games apprentice because they amuse me…do not make the mistake of crossing me." Harry smiled at his Master dangerously, "Never Master, all I ever do is for your benefit, I'd never dream of it." Rumplestiltskin smiled, "Well then, see you soon dearie." Then he vanished into purple smoke off to steal the blind witch's power.

-x-

Harry shuffled the deck one more time double-checking his reading, he hissed, he was in a precarious position today and it would take a delicate touch to turn everything in his favor. Harry put his deck in his side pouch and hurried to the library knowing he would find Bell there. She was sitting on a lounge reading a book, as expected and Harry made sure to make enough noise entering that she looked up from her book. He smiled at her, a mischievous smile that hid secrets, and said, "Hello there dearie." Bell smiled "Hello Harry, what brings you to me today?" Bell asked.

"What makes you think I have an agenda coming to talk to you?" Harry asked. "It has become something of a pattern you have to admit." Bell said with a teasing smile. "I concede to your logic, now I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping with one of my projects," Harry said doing his best to smile without looking slightly menacing…it was harder than he had anticipated. He resolved to practice his more innocent looks in a mirror soon. Bell was looking at him with some surprise, "What do you need my help with?" she said cautiously. Harry pulled a vial out of his pouch and gave it to her to inspect.

"It's a sleeping potion that should last maybe a day, and I need someone to try it out so I can monitor the effects." Harry said trying his best to look innocent. Bell was eyeing him warily now, "So you want me to be a test subject for one of your experiments?" Bell said incredulously. "Test subject is such a harsh word I much prefer trusted collaborator," Harry said unable to keep his smile from widening slightly. Bell rolled her eyes at him, "Yes, you and Rumpelstiltskin have such a way with words. Both of you are well versed in using pretty terms to get people to agree to things they wouldn't otherwise." Bell still smiled back at him, "But if all I have to do is sleep then why not?"

Harry watched her drink the vial, really the girl was way too trusting for her own good and Harry would be sure to take advantage of that more often from now on. She didn't check the contents or ask him for a vow. Her eyes closed drowsily and she fell into a deep sleep and Harry grinned skipping around her. His Master would be so pleased that he wouldn't have to explain why doing the dark ritual to give Bell magic was necessary now and Bell wouldn't be able to refuse the magic willfully anymore. Harry quickly levitated her back up to his Master's workroom in order to get it and her ready for the ritual to come.

It was just beginning to get dark when his Master returned; blink witch in tow, her heart glowing in his hand and Harry smiled as it had worked out perfectly. If his Master was surprised that Harry had already had everything prepped and that Bell was unconscious in the appropriate rune circle he certainly didn't show it on his face. Rumpelstiltskin simply placed the blind witch in her own circle, who Harry finally noticed was gagged and tied up. "Now dearie I do so hope you didn't attack Bell," His Master said with a dangerous smile. Harry just smirked in return, "Of course not Master…I wouldn't have the audacity. Bell merely wanted to help me test a vial of sleeping potion and kindly took it without many questions." Rumpelstiltskin narrowed his eyes then smiled a mischievous smile that usually preceded his giggles.

Harry stepped out of the room to just beyond the doorway to watch his Master perform the ritual that would give her the Blind witch's magic. His Master placed the glowing heart on Bell's chest and stepped back to work his magic, watching the magic being pulled from the witch was fascinating and then being put into Bell was delightful. Of course the blind witch died soon after but that mattered very little to Harry as Bell now had magic inside of her. He smiled as he left his Master to take care of Bell and the corpse, heading to his room to look at what his cards said now. He had started to use them more as he changed the events that his book had outlined, since he could no longer depend on the reliability of its pages.

The cards were laid out, slowly and with precision onto his bed as he sat crossed legged on top of it. As the story unfolded in front of him, the cards telling him a story almost as clearly as his book had, Harry couldn't help but smile. It was all working out to be in his favor, soon he would need to begin brewing _those_ potions in secret and then the first part of his plan will be finally set in motion. Even with the risk this Hogwarts would undoubtedly bring his plans were still in motion, and soon years of careful planning would begin to play off for him. Harry just had to be sure he stepped carefully from now on and kept his eyes on the bigger picture…it would be all too easy to get caught up with the smaller pawns if one wasn't cautious.

-x-

Harry twirled the hourglass in his hands; it looked a bit like the necklace that his Master had given him but with an hourglass instead of a frozen golden owl. The 'time turner' as the magical folk in his home world called it, was a very useful magical item that allowed the user to go a few hours into the past. It was ingenious really, his Master would be ecstatic to get his hands on one, but Harry was not going to give it to him. In fact, he had made sure to wipe any mention of time turners from all their books and for now only he would enjoy the use of it. His Master would be very displeased had he known but thankfully Harry had discovered this pretty little item existed before he did.

The problem with Rumpelstiltskin knowing about time turners was that there were one or two with enough power to bring him back to that moment he had chosen not to go with Bae into that unknown world. Bae had wanted his ordinary father back…his magicless (thus powerless)…father who had only taken on the curse of the Dark One to save him from going to war with the ogres. The Blue Fairy had given him a magic bean that opened a portal to a world without magic, one that would have stripped Rumpelstiltskin of his powers and given Bae what he wanted most…the ordinary spineless father he had grown up with back.

His Master had not been given the chance to decide, Bae had opened the portal without warning and told Rumpelstiltskin what it would do as they were going to enter it. His Master had panicked, understandably, as the idea of being powerless was not appealing. The Portal closed around Bae before Rumpelstiltskin could work up the courage to go with him…he lost his son and the fairies made themselves a bitter enemy with their meddling. The Blue Fairy had made a dangerous gamble and she would pay for it dearly one day. Since that day his Master's only thought…only ambition…only obsession was getting to the world that had taken Bae.

Sadly the pull of a deal could only call him to worlds that had magic to begin with…he couldn't bring magical solutions to a magicless world…at least not yet. Harry knew that if he ever found out about the one or two Time Turners that _might_ be powerful enough to bring him back to that moment with Bae he wouldn't hesitate. However, Harry needed him to not go through that portal because if he hadn't then Harry would still be under the stairs locked in a cupboard. It would change everything and all his plans would be worthless as he would have never made them. Harry wasn't sure what would happen if his Master ever got a hold of a time turner…it was better he never found out.

However, the Time Turner would be endlessly useful to him…he could attend this school learn as much as he wanted and still have the time to tend to his plans here. He would be going to Platform 9 ¾ next week and then he would see what this Hogwarts had to offer him. Hopefully it wouldn't take the whole seven years to get through all they taught but hopefully it would be worth his precious time. Bell was coming along nicely; accepting that Rumpelstiltskin had given her some magic freely without asking the how's and that had been useful. Harry was teaching her some things when his Master didn't have the time and Harry was pleased with her progress.

Regina had been his Master's apprentice at one time…the evil Queen hell bent on killing Snow White… and his Master had been careful to craft her into his perfect little monster. She certainly had started out a very sweet and loving girl. As his Master loved to say, 'Evil isn't born dearie, it's _**made**_.' Bell wouldn't be a monster, that wasn't what Harry was intending as he guided to where he wanted her. Unlike his Master he wasn't intending to make her a monster when he began to manipulate Bell's way of thinking…no he was creating something much more formidable.

Right now he wasn't contemplating his plans; instead Harry was enlisting Bell's help in trying to look more…normal…less creepy when he smiled. He had already gave up trying to tone down his eccentric behaviors that he had picked up living with his Master as they were too ingrained to manage in just a week. Adjusting his smiles though wasn't out of his reach though so he was having Bell help him look more approachable. It was harder than Harry had expected.

While Harry was practicing his expressions, Bell was sorting through the clothes he would be taking with him to the school and helping him organize his things for packing. He was taking all his books, the ones he got on his first trip to the alley, the ones he got after, and all the ones that had been given to him by Rumpelstiltskin over the years. Harry had bought everything he could possibly use at the alley, some things he probably wouldn't, and had basically cleared out Diagon in a week. It was a good thing his trunk was enchanted to be bigger on the inside than it was on the outside otherwise Harry was sure he would have to leave some things behind.

His Master would be done with his new dragon hide clothes by the end of the week, and soon he would be stepping back into his home world. Harry wasn't sure what to expect, he had run across his name a few times in a few books, and he wasn't sure if the books were referencing him. The boy-who-lived seemed like such a trivial title next to the Dark One and Harry hadn't quite accepted it yet. There was still a chance the books were talking about another Harry Potter, since he didn't know his parents names Harry wasn't sure if he was _that _Harry Potter. After all, his name was pretty common in his home world it was entirely possible that the Harry Potter the books were talking about was a different Harry Potter.

It was all very confusing having someone else have his name…maybe…at least Harry thought that might be the case. The Harry Potter the books talked about sounded like another person at least, after all he hadn't fought a dragon at age four, or make it a habit of wrestling trolls to save princesses. In his experience princesses were hardly worth saving on the best of days and he certainly wouldn't do that unless there was something in it for him. Princesses tended to be needed, lost little girls that always wanted someone else to solve their problems for them instead of facing them head on by themselves.

There were always exceptions to that rule, Snow White being one of the few, but it was the rule not the exceptions that Harry was concerned with. Yes, Harry was quite certain that this boy-who-lived was a whole other boy entirely. _That_ Harry Potter had known about the magical world in his homeland, had been rumored to have trained under a light lord Dumbledore, and was an all around goody two shoes. That was not him at all so there was only two options either the books were making stuff up about him or there was another boy out there named Harry Potter about the same age as him. Harry though he would prefer the pain in the ass of sharing a name, over having to deal with people thinking he was anything like how they had depicted the boy-who-lived in books.

-x-

Harry knew finding Platform 9 ¾ would have been a lot harder if he hadn't taken his dear aunt's heart and gotten very specific instructions on how to board the train. It was very inconvenient that there were so many people with magic at the station, along with magical items, and making it very hard to distinguish anything. While the land his Master hailed from certainly had magic there was only a distinguished few that could yield it and even fewer items just laying about. Who in the world would enchant a moldy leather boot Harry had no idea, but he was certainly very careful not to touch it.

When he finally made it to the barrier Harry felt a bit sick with the chaos of magic energy choking the air and was grateful that he had come early so he didn't need to deal with a packed platform too. The Dark Castle was full of magic and magical things; however there were very few magical signatures with the primary one being his Master's.  
Now there were dozens upon dozens surrounding Harry making it hard to distinguish and adding to his discomfort. How the people here managed to stay sane living like this, no set order, no dominating signature to calm the magic…it was chaos…pure chaos.

It reminded Harry of the onetime his Master had taken him to Wonderland, that illogical, insensible place, he had been sick with it for weeks. Harry hoped he would be able to get used to it otherwise he would have to leave and face his Master's wrath for disobeying a direct order. The platform was slowly filling up with children, and it was a surreal experience for Harry to watch them. Growing up away from prying eyes in the Dark Castle meant that Harry had never really interacted with any children since he had left his cupboard years before (handling the babies his Master collected for deal didn't really count since they rarely stayed more than a day). If he was honest with himself he was nervous to interact with children because Harry didn't feel much like a child himself and had no idea how to handle them.

Magic forbid one of them tried to _touch _him…Harry forced himself to calm down before he started to panic and did something foolish. Harry tried to think about what his Master had told him of children to try to get a better handle on things. Rumpelstiltskin had told him very little about children, besides that they tended to behave cruelly when they got the chance and were typically very rude. That did very little to comfort him so Harry decided to enchant his door, it would only open if you knocked, but if you tried to open it or force it open it wouldn't budge. Harry thought that would be a very good way to weed out the rude ones so that he wouldn't have to deal with them and the ones that knocked deserved a chance to prove themselves worthy of being in his presence.

Harry took out a book to distract himself from the thought of being forced to interact with children and began to read _Alchemy: A Lost Art_. As the hours ticked on, the train began to move and in an absentminded way Harry began to count how many people tried to open his door without knocking. A freckly red headed boy was the first one to try to just yank his door open, and he had tried for a good ten minutes before he gave up…didn't knock once. A bushy haired girl with a downtrodden mousy boy came along not long after, then a pinched face blond boy with his two goon boys and then a pair of red headed twins likely brothers of the first one.

A few hours later a plump woman pushing a sweet cart knocked and Harry bought a bit of everything excited to try a sweet for the first time. Then as the hours rolled on Harry felt a growing sense of dread and disbelief when not one kid tried to knock before trying his door. It was going to be a long year, a very long year indeed and Harry wondered how he was going to survive living with a bunch of ill mannered oafs. One thing was for certain he would take every chance he had to go back to the Dark Castle otherwise Harry was sure he wouldn't last the year if he didn't.


	6. Magic is Coming

**A.N.: Here goes lol another chapter down! Whoop! Lol hope you like it! Please review and tell me your thoughts/suggestions. I'm debating on the pairing for this story…slash or het? IDK yet…lol not that it will matter any time soon! However I will take your opinions into my decisions! I was thinking Harry/Huntsmen for a slash pairing or Harry/Red Riding hood for Het. Or maybe Hp character! Lol Let me know! **

**Chapter 6: Magic is Coming **

Harry stood before the door to his compartment, waiting, there was a great crush of children just outside this door and beyond that there was a magical school full of even more people. It was a nightmare for Harry; he was used to his relatively small world of three people and a puppy. He hadn't really talked to anyone besides his Master and Bell in years... Harry wasn't sure if he even knew how to have a normal conversation with anyone. How was he to behave? What would he say to them? What did children typically talk about? Games? His games involved the wide spread manipulation of a world, not playing with a ball or whatever it was that they did.

This was a nerve racking prospect that was just beginning to set in that he was about to face a whole lot of people and Harry didn't it like it. He had an insane urge to go home to the Dark Castle and hide under his bed until his Master gave up on this idea of him attending this school. However, his contract with his Master ensured that Harry couldn't disobey a direct order from his Master and his Master wanted him to attend school. So Harry hardened his resolve and opened his compartment door moving to join the other children outside the train. Harry had known that he was giving up his free will when he had agreed to his deal with Rumpelstiltskin and Harry knew he would eventually have to do things he would rather not.

Outside there was a crowd of bustling students, the older ones moved with a confidence the younger ones lacked and it all made navigating his way through them to the big man calling out, "F'rst years o'er h'er," rather difficult. Eventually Harry made it to the other nervous looking children congregating around the giant of a man, and stayed just outside the pack of them as they moved toward the dark lake. "No m're th'n four ter a boat," the giant man said directing them to a row of barely passable looking boats. Harry looked at the so called boats in disgust, there was absolutely no way he was going to get into something that looked like it would sink in a stiff wind.

That decided Harry waited until he was sure no one was watching before conjuring himself a nice, secure, sturdy boat that would follow the other boats in the lone at his direction. He stepped into the boat deftly and shortly after the boats launched out onto the dark deep waters of the lake. Harry watched a tentacle lazily wave at him with mild interest, and listened to the small snippets of chatter that he could hear from the other boats. There was a lot of asking what houses one wanted, names exchanged, blood statuses, sometimes an argument over some such sports team, and the like…incredibly dull.

Then there was a collective drawing in of breath and Harry turned his attention to the view of the prettily lit castle in the distance. It was nice, but it was no Dark Castle with ominous towers and dark magic seductively beckoning the foolish inside. Hogwarts was about as big as the Dark Castle, but Hogwarts had a mixture of magic, not dark, not entirely light, making it feel muddled and murky to Harry's senses. A very unpleasant feeling. The giant man lead them up from the lake to a set of large double doors that Harry assumed was the great hall he had read about in Hogwarts: a History. Harry was very interested in the enchanted ceiling and hoped to discover how to replicate its effects in the Dark Castle (he would love the ceiling of his room to be enchanted).

**-x-**

Severus Snape was a cantankerous bitter man, life had never been kind to him and his own foolish mistakes had only compounded on his misfortunes. He had been bullied horribly when he was younger and so now he was quite content to _be_ the bully now that he was in a position to do so. He had made more enemies than friends, and Snape was quite content to keep it that way. Better to be alone, better to be isolated, than to have friends and with the ever present possibility of being betrayed. Snape knew what people thought of him, knew what his ever present Headmaster thought of him and really he could care less.

Dumbledore thought he was still in love with Lily, his first and his last friend, and in some ways he was right. Severus loved Lily; she had been the only thing in his life worth anything once upon a time…before she had betrayed him. Everyone thought that Snape was the one to first betray his dear Lily…calling her a mudblood had been the end to their friendship. In fact it was Lily who had betrayed him first, Lily who had taught that despicable Potter his spell, Lily who had betrayed his trust and who had then refused to forgive him for lashing out. Snape knew that the only one anyone could truly depend on is themselves and people who make _friends_ were foolish idiots.

Severus was in a particularly bad mood tonight because the spawn of Potter would be finally attending Hogwarts. This event had been both dreaded and anticipated for him…he could hardly wait to use his position of power over Potter as the boy's father had once done to him. And he had been told that the boy had his mother's eyes. Snape would give anything to see even a small part of Lily again, even if it was staring out at him from Potter's face. There had been some nervous chatter that there might be a problem getting Harry to come to Hogwarts, Dumbledore had sent out that oaf Hagrid to give him his letter personally, and that had set off a panic in the old coot.

Dumbledore had of course wiped the sensitive information from Hagrid's mind but he had shared his discovery with Snape. Harry Potter had left his guardians some time ago, years in fact, and no one knew where he was living now. Snape had been inclined to believe Potter had perished had it not been for his acceptance letter a few days later. Snape cast his narrowed eyes at the old coot, now, Dumbledore feared for the worst. Dumbledore had him make discreet inquires in all the right channels, none of the Dark supporters knew of the boy, and if they did it was under another name.

Now, both Dumbledore and Snape anticipated Potter's arrival in the hopes to get some answers from the boy about his whereabouts for the last few years. Minerva entered the great hall with the first years following her like a gaggle of lost ducklings, and Snape knew he wasn't the only one scanning the crowd of them looking for a particular boy. When he couldn't find the boy Snape turned his eyes to Minerva knowing that eventually the boy would be called to be sorted. Snape only paid the mildest of attention to the newest crop of brats and only really clapping when his godson was sorted so swiftly into Slytherin.

Then the moment they had all been waiting for, "Potter, Harry" Minerva said voice ringing out at the sudden hush on the crowd. For a moment nothing happened, no one moved out from the line, no one spoke and then a small voice with a queer accent called out, "Well which Harry are you calling? The boy-who-lived or Harry Potter?" A boy stepped out of the crowd, in odd dress he seemed to dance/walk to the front twirling his hands unnecessarily and making a spectacle of himself. "I'm not quite sure what you mean! There is only one Harry Potter!" Minerva said before the boy got close enough they could see his features.

"I was afraid of that," Potter muttered as he moved forward to join Minerva. It was Potter, though he looked nothing like he had expected his hair was as unruly and unsightly as his father's however the similarities ended there. He had his mother's eyes that seemed to take up a great deal of his face, his clothes were odd…obviously foreign but similar enough that it could be overlooked. His skin was pale, he had the queerest accent and had the oddest way of walking that Severus had ever seen…as if the boy was trying to decide if he should skip, walk or dance all while he moved.

Potter twirled his hands raising them up by his chest before he delicately took the sorting hat from Minerva using only his thumb and forefinger as if he wanted to touch it as little as possible. Snape watched him as he shifted from foot to foot keeping the hat pinched between his fingers and watched the resignation flood his features as he barely touched the hat to his head not even bothering to sit on the stool. The hat had just lightly touched his head before it called out, "Slytherin!" The look of relief as Potter practically flung the hat back at Minerva was almost comical as he twirled on one foot to head to his house's table. Snape was too shocked to mask his surprise from his face.

-x-

Harry barely kept himself from shuddering as he wiped his hands with a napkin as soon as he sat at the table ignoring the children around him. That had had been disgusting, absolutely disgusting, who knew how many centuries of children had put that thing on and it certainly hadn't looked clean. He was glad his sorting had been so quick that he hadn't had to have that hat on his head more than necessary. Just as Harry was proceeding to fill his plate with the most edible looking things on the table a blond boy with a pinched face cleared his throat loudly to get his attention.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, this is Crabbe and Goyle," Draco said pointing to the two goonish boys sitting next to him. "Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis and Pansy Parkinson," Draco pointed out the various children surrounding them. Harry sighed, "Harry Potter, but you already knew that." Harry said annoyed with having to get the niceties out of the way. "Right," Draco sneered, "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Draco extended his hand out to Harry and Harry took a moment to contemplate the snobbish boy's offer. Harry smiled like a shark and took the boy's hand, "Alright then, Draco was it, I'll take you up on your 'offer' and in exchange I won't rip your heart out of your chest for your presumptuousness." Draco got very pale after that and Harry giggled a bit menacingly. After all Harry had learned from the best…never make a deal without setting up your price first.

They ate quietly after that, the other children were too nervous to try talking to Harry again and the older students didn't particularly care much. Harry found that to be quite enjoyable even if the food was very heavy and the Hall overcrowded. Harry was too busy making his plans to put up with having to try to converse with children. Harry was planning his lesson plans in his mind, when he would use the time tuner, how much time he wanted to spend in the library and exploring the castle. He needed to get the layout before classes started to avoid getting lost all the time and magical castle were hard enough to get used to.

When everyone was eating desert Harry cleared a space on the table not very interested in sweets having had his fill on the train. He laid out his Tarot deck instead, playing attention to what the cards were telling him and playing no mind to the children staring at him as he did so. The cards were warning him, it was a good thing he was in the habit of checking them so often, Harry sighed he would have to bring his Master here earlier than he had planned.

That was very inconvenient since his Master was a very curious person and after he saw Hogwarts Harry knew he wouldn't be able to talk his way out of here early. Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't be satisfied until he had learned all he could from this place and that would be _years_. However, Rumpelstiltskin's own plans would involve about a twenty eight year waiting period when enacted so Harry didn't expect his Master would mind sending him here for _years_.

Harry followed the flow of the students after that to the Slytherin dorm rooms keen on getting some sleep before he had to wake early to get his Master from his world. The common room was cold and dreary Harry found it amusing that the Slytherins seemed to be so devoted to looking menacing. Harry was of the mind that if you were truly dangerous then you would have no need to put on airs, acting serious, or falling into a typical role. No the truly dangerous people are the ones that don't seem dangerous at all until they have your heart in their hands and a smile on their face.

Shortly after they arrived a shallow looking man stormed in pacing in front of them, he was tall, his hair was dark and greasy, dressed all in black. He sneered out at them; his voice was deep as he said, "Welcome to Slytherin, I expect you to uphold the virtues of your house. Slytherins always present a united front; I don't care what foolishness happens inside Slytherin as long as it is _never_ shown publicly…" Harry toned out the rest of the man's speech as he quickly lost interest in listening to his long litany of rules.

They were dismissed to do to their rooms shortly, however, just as Harry was going to join the other boys he heard, "Potter, a moment," from the same deep voice. Harry sighed, "Yes Professor?" Harry asked the man's name already having slipped his mind. The man sneered at him, "The Headmaster would like to speak with you first thing in the morning, you will come to my office as soon as possible and I will escort you there myself." Harry was starting to be very annoyed with this whole situation quickly, "Alright Professor."

Harry had been distracted all night, being around this many people after so long being mostly alone was overwhelming and disorientating. However, he didn't fail to notice that when he had been sorted into Slytherin the others of his house had failed to clap, he noticed the cold harsh looks and most importantly he had remembered the lessons the Dursleys had taught him. If you are not liked or loved you had better be feared otherwise pain was sure to follow.

So Harry sat on his bed waiting, as his roommates fell asleep and the dorm room got very dark. He waited patiently for them, he knew they would come to hurt him or kill him if they could. A little while after midnight Harry heard the quiet shuffling of four pair of feet as they kept closer to his bed. Harry smiled viciously; he flared a bright flash of light blinding the four older students and causing them to panic. With a thought Harry directed roots to shoot up from the floor and bind them leaving them defenseless.

He giggled, "My my dearies," Harry said as he pranced around them giving no mind to his roommates as they awoke from the noise and light to stare at the scene he was making. Harry stepped in front of the four students, obviously upper years, three boys and one girl…two of which had badges of a prefect. "Now what to do to you," Harry said as he got into the apparent leader's face. The boy was the one struggling the most, the one the others had looked to after they had realized their situation. Harry shot up his hand pointing to the ceiling in an obviously eureka moment, "Oh I know just what to do!"

Then he quickly shoved his hands inside the boy's chest grabbing his heart and ripping it out so that it glowed and beat inside his chest. Then before the other three could panic he did the same to them using his magic to float two of the hearts behind him. He kept the leader's and the girl's hearts in his hands. He giggled menacingly as they squirmed in the pain of having their hearts from their chests, "Now in case you didn't figure it out let me explain your new situations to you." Harry said as he paced in front of the four of them. "I now hold your lives in my hands, so from this moment on you all are my _bitches_," Harry laughed now at the look on their faces.

"You see if you make a move against me, displease me at all, aid anyone against me, or generally make yourselves not useful to me all I have to do is…_**squeeze**_…" Harry said squeezing the hearts in his hands while his magic squeezed the other two. The four of them thrashed around violently, faces pale, mouths open in silent screams. Harry laughed, "You see dearies I am not someone you should have messed with…now it would be best if you content yourselves with being my slaves," he said mockingly.

He released them from his enchantment letting them fall at his feet panting, "Bye bye now dearies…off to bed!" Harry said mockingly giggling as they scrambled out of the room as quickly as they could. When he turned around he noticed his new roommates all staring at him wide eyed and pale. Draco Malfoy was looking particularly green and Harry smiled at them. "Night night dearies! Remember Draco is the only one that is unfortunate enough to have immunity to getting his heart ripped from him!" Harry laughed as they all scrambled to lay down squeezing their eyes shut in mock sleep.

Harry giggled his way to his new bed pulling a shrunken chest from his side pouch that held his new enchanted heart vault, after Petunia Harry had it made in Diagon for him. Though the shop keeper who had crafted and enchanted the chest had no idea the purpose it held, of course. His Master would not had approved had he known but then again what Rumpelstiltskin didn't know wouldn't hurt Harry. Harry giggled some more as he carefully placed each heart in a small box. As the hearts were placed in them each box gained an engraved name at the top: Marcus Flint, Terence Higgs, Adrian Pucey and Abigail Fawley.

Giggles escaped Harry as he realized that he had forgotten to get the names of his newest slaves…not that it mattered much to him either way. The boxes were of his own crafting, they were his way of getting around the weakness that came from using this spell to take hearts from people. Most who use this spell get carried away, forget whose hearts they had taken, and soon that makes the hearts meaningless as anything more than decorations.

This way every heart would be labeled, and Harry would know just what heart to go to should any of them displease him. This spell was addictive…so he had to be careful to hide his using of it from his Master. Harry sealed the boxes into the vault inside the chest and then placed the chest back into his pouch that never left his side. The inside of the chest looked as Harry would imagine a safe deposit box vault would look like, every box had its own especially enchanted cubby and Harry was proud of his design. There were rows and rows of free cubbies awaiting a heart as Harry only had five at the moment.

Harry smiled; he should start a special collection, a wall for courageous hearts, one for cowardly hearts, one for bitter hearts, another for strong hearts and maybe even one for broken hearts. Only time would tell if his collection would grow to be as big as his vault but Harry didn't think he would have a problem filling his vault. Harry was proud of the boxes, they were probably one of his masterpieces of magic and though they appeared plain they were all carefully crafted. Each would identify the heart placed inside, make it so he was the only one who could touch them, and they were connected to his will…so if he so desired all he had to do was think about the heart with the name to get the box to squeeze or destroy the heart within it. He was proud of the boxes.

Harry knew he would have to sleep while he could, figuring that he would remain unmolested the rest of the night and he knew he would have to get up early to speak with his Master. There was so much he had to learn, so much to do, and Harry couldn't wait to begin. He had so many new plans forming inside his mind, so many pieces that had to be moved into place and Harry tapped the time turner happily…he had so much time now. Giggling Harry forced himself to sleep hoping that the meeting with the Headmaster would go smoothly tomorrow.


End file.
